Decisions made during the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) process involve many risks and uncertainties. With the emergence of behavioural economics, substantial literature has accumulated regarding biases and their impact on the quality of decision-making. However, the overall prevalence and roles that these biases play in decision-making have largely been studied on an individual level, and have not been scrutinized as much in more complex drug R&D settings.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank K. Smietana, S. Visser, R. Lalonde and B. Weber for their inputs while participating in the earlier stages of this project, as well as B. Metzler with her diligent input on the manuscript writing. Special thanks go to the anonymous survey participants who gave their input and often provided insights via their additional comments.

The authors declare no competing interests.